秀米

Alexander lampooned realizing this, forcing himself to come to terms with the fact that perhaps the mysteries of that magical herb would perhaps remain forever unknown to him.

"What? Is there a problem?"

It was Miss Linda\'s sudden chime next to his ears that finally jolted Alexander back to the present.

"No! I was simply thinking about how to get you the herbs. It grows only in tiny quantities around a very special area in the capital and its distribution is strictly controlled by the king."

He was quick to make up a convincing excuse.

"Hmmm… I see!" Miss Linda also did not press him after hearing that.

She figured that since it was him who had promised her his support and it was him in charge of making sure she did not accidentally get pregnant, this was his problem to solve.

Rather Miss Linda became much more focused on the other information Alexander had revealed, realizing the dream of growing this precious herb in her family estate was impossible.

She had originally assumed it grew all over that country like weeds, so she wanted Alexander to send some over but now understood that it was likely suited to only grow in a very particular soil and climate.

Her family could not have everything in the world.

This thought initially made her feel a bit crestfallen, and so bringing herself closer to the lying Alexander, she whispered in a testing voice,

"You seem to have thought about everything. Are you so confident that I will succeed?"

It seemed she was still a bit apprehensive about getting herself involved in this ruthless game.

Alexander on the other hand felt a very different set of emotions, as blood started to slowly boil inside him upon feeling the warm nubile body pressing against his strong arms.

\'Shameless seductress!\' He lightly cursed.

However the experienced man managed to quickly seal his lust from affecting his thinking and quickly reassured,

"Don\'t fear. As long as you can make Lord Castell support you… make him fall in love with you, there won\'t be any trouble. You will have me too!"

"Even if you somehow fail to win the bid for your son… I do not believe you will face too much backlash. You will still be the new duke\'s \'aunt\' after all."

"If your family\'s resources increase enough in the meantime… you could even still play kingmaker for the two men. I do not believe either of your brothers in law will dare refuse your coin."

"Being second and third sons of the family, they should not have even a tenth…. or perhaps even a thousandth of your family\'s resources under them. I do not need to tell you how to take advantage of such a thing, right?"

Alexander guessed that since Lord Parker had been already named the next successor, his brothers should have been left quite neglected, with hardly the coin needed to finance their \'bids\'.

So if a Marquis family like Miss Linda were to come up to support them, it would surely get them a huge advantage.

"Hehehe!" These convincing words appear to dispel almost all the second thoughts Miss Linda was having and she unreservedly hugged Alexander, wrapping her dainty arms around his broad chest and letting her modest, warm breasts squish into him.

This pink sensation accompanied by the charming, very sensual peal of laughter ringing right next to his ears quickly made it hard for Alexander to stay soft.

And Miss Linda seemed to sense this \'pleased\' mood, so cunningly took a bold move.

"Then how about you lend me the full 6 million? It will certainly help me play \'kingmaker\' better hehehe…."

"......." Alexander could not believe how shameless the woman next to him was being.

The agreed 40 million ropals was already a huge sum of money. By all accounts, Alexander should not have even entertained the idea.

But he did.

Yet now she wanted more!

Alexander did not want to even grace that ask with an answer.

While sensing Alexander\'s incredulous mood, Miss Linda did not back down but actually clarified her demands, sexily wrapping her long, bare legs around his waist and whispering in a soft, steamy voice,

"My reward was for only the first time. You took me for four! Take responsibility!"

"....." The sexy, silky tone of her voice made Alexander\'s heart soften once again and he felt did not have the skill to argue with such \'great logic\'.

Especially since he was struggling far more to keep his blood from rushing to make a certain part of his body and making him \'very excited\'.

Thus suppressing his rising lust, he tried to answer in as neutral a tone as possible,

"As discussed earlier I will give you 1 million wesa (10 million ropals) each year over the span of the next four years. If you still need more… we can discuss it then."

It went without saying Alexander was not going to just give the 40 million ropals in one big lump just because the lady asked.

He had learned from his previous mistake and was determined not to repeat it. If Miss Linda wanted to run away with his money, she was going to have to wait.

He also feared she was going to whirl it all away at once if he did so- because there was nothing easier to use than someone else\'s money.

Of course, this counteroffer made Miss Linda\'s cheeks lightly puff up as a clear sign of unhappiness, and she haggled,

"I need more than that… at least to get things going. Give me 3 million in the first year, and the

rest in two years. I will pay it back in 10 years!"

"......" Once again, Alexander found a new level of shamelessness.

The way Miss Linda said it, it sounded like it was her who was being \'gracious\' to concede the 10 million ropals.

Whereas not only was the amount much higher than what was previously agreed, but she also wanted the whole thing much faster.

And to top it all off, she did not even seem to want to pay any interest!

\'Could you have even asked for more?\' Alexander seriously wondered.

The only thing reasonable there was the promised return period, and even that Alexander thought was highly unlikely to be honored.

He believed that given Miss Linda\'s shady nature, he would not get even half of his money back.

But as he settled his mind down, he found that this actually did not bother him too much.

He remembered that he was not here for the money- he far preferred to get paid in more \'exotic\' means, such as in the form of various political benefits and influence.

Hence after a bit of adjusted negotiations, the duo settled for a new deal-

5 million wesa to be loaned over a 4 year period.

The first year Alexander would give half of the total amount- 2.5 million wesas, among which 1 million would be in hard coin, and the remaining in the form of 3,000 released prisoners of war.

The next two years it would be one million respectively, followed by the remaining half a million in the last year.

As for the interest, well given Alexander did not hold any real hope of getting his money back in cash, he decided to give Miss Linda a very sweet deal.

He asked her to pay him back a mere 5.1 million wesa or just 1 million ropals in interest, and that too over the next ten years.

This came at an annual interest rate of a bit less than 0.2%, which was not only low, it was Bank of Japan levels low.

It was basically a token amount.

And if all that was not good enough, Miss Linda would not have to start paying him until she got the whole 5 million loan. Meaning she was effectively getting a 15 year deal.

As for what would happen if she still failed to pay… well- if Miss Linda was truly unable to pay him, then it would mean their gamble for the duke\'s seat had utterly failed.

Then, Alexander planned to just settle for that fixed 5.1 million.

But if Miss Linda \'refused\' pay after getting what she wanted, well that was where her sister Lady Miranda came in.

Alexander would not mind funding her enemies should his investment \'turn a turncoat\'.

But when discussing the matter, he skipped this \'consequences\' part because he did not wish to bring up such a sour topic.

He would rather show that he fully believed in the lady\'s integrity and that there was no way his investment could go bad.

While the lady, having gotten an extra 10 million ropals just by acting coy was naturally overjoyed.

Thus a stunning face suddenly bloomed in front of Alexander, and his heart quickened as felt the naked lady sensually get up on him,

"Hehe, then my lord, let me give you another reward!"

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